Seniors, Smartphones and the Pew Report on Adoption and Usage

Editor's Note:

As a birthday present we were just gifted by our daughters with our first smartphone.

It was a choice we made after considering an e-Reader. We felt that there were many smartphone features that, at our age, would be helpful: Google Maps Navigation app, Camcorder, a slide-out, five row keyboard for Internet use, email backup and voice-related features.

When in a city not our own, access to apps/the Internet would help us locate services and attractions without having to either carry a computer or having to find access to Internet service. (By the way, we've discovered apps called Elder 411 and Elder 911 authored by a doctor.) We've also noted that some family members now primaily use their smartphones to access the Internet rather than consulting their laptops or pcs.

In its first standalone measure of smartphone ownership, the Pew Internet Project finds that one third of American adults – 35% – own smartphones. The Project’s May survey found that 83% of US adults have a cell phone of some kind, and that 42% of them own a smartphone. That translates into 35% of all adults. Our definition of a smartphone owner includes anyone who falls into either of the following two categories:

One-third of cell owners (33%) say that their phone is a smartphone.

Two in five cell owners (39%) say that their phone operates on a smartphone platform (these include iPhones and Blackberry devices, as well as phones running the Android, Windows or Palm operating systems).

And here’s how they feel about their devices:

Smartphone adoption is highest among the affluent and well-educated, the (relatively) young, and non-whites

Several groups have higher than average levels of smartphone adoption, including: